My Deliverance

Introduction

How important is being found faithful to Jesus in your life? Consider the cost is a biblical phrase that comes to mind.

"Expect great things; attempt great things."

At a meeting of Baptist leaders in the late 1700s, a newly ordained minister stood to argue for the value of overseas missions. He was abruptly interrupted by an older minister who said, "Young man, sit down! You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to convert the heathen, he'll do it without consulting you or me."

A Baptist from 1783, Carey served for several years as a pastor in Moulton, Northamptonshire, where he also taught school and continued his trade as a shoemaker. In 1789 he transferred to the Baptist church at Leicester and three years later published a pamphlet titled An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, which led to his forming, with a dozen other ministers, the English Baptist Missionary Society.

That such an attitude is inconceivable today is largely due to the subsequent efforts of that young man, William Carey.

Plodder

Carey was raised in the obscure, rural village of Paulerpury, in the middle of England. He apprenticed in a local cobbler's shop, where the nominal Anglican was converted. He enthusiastically took up the faith, and though little educated, the young convert borrowed a Greek grammar and proceeded to teach himself New Testament Greek.

The society’s first missionaries, Carey and John Thomas, a doctor, went to Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1793. The following year, Carey removed himself from the society’s financial support when he became superintendent at an indigo plant in Mudnabati, Bengal. There he also preached, taught, and began his first Bible translation. Compelled to leave British Indian territory, he and his family moved to the Danish colony of Frederiksnagar, near Calcutta, in 1800. There he and Joshua Marshman and William Ward, collectively known as the “Serampore trio,” founded the mission described by the English philanthropist William Wilberforce as “one of the chief glories” of the British nation.

When his master died, he took up shoemaking in nearby Hackleton, where he met and married Dorothy Plackett, who soon gave birth to a daughter. But the apprentice cobbler's life was hard—the child died at age 2—and his pay was insufficient. Carey's family sunk into poverty and stayed there even after he took over the business.

"I can plod," he wrote later, "I can persevere to any definite pursuit." All the while, he continued his language studies, adding Hebrew and Latin, and became a preacher with the Particular Baptists. He also continued pursuing his lifelong interest in international affairs, especially the religious life of other cultures.

Carey was impressed with early Moravian missionaries and was increasingly dismayed at his fellow Protestants' lack of missions interest. In response, he penned An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. He argued that Jesus' Great Commission applied to all Christians of all times, and he castigated fellow believers of his day for ignoring it: "Multitudes sit at ease and give themselves no concern about the far greater part of their fellow sinners, who to this day, are lost in ignorance and idolatry."

Appointed in 1801 to teach Bengali, Sanskrit, and Marathi at Fort William College, Carey translated the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit. He also translated parts of it into 29 other languages and dialects. He edited, with Marshman, a grammar in Bhotia and prepared six other grammars in different languages. In addition to dictionaries in Bengali, Sanskrit, and Marathi, Carey and Marshman prepared a translation of three volumes of the Hindu epic poem Ramayana. Having established a press at Serampore, Carey edited and published two works by horticulturist William Roxburgh, Hortus Bengalensis (1814) and Flora Indica (1832), and helped distribute prose texts for use in schools. His social work extended beyond education to urge the government to outlaw such practices as infanticide and suttee (in which Hindu widows immolated themselves on their husbands’ funeral pyres). He also encouraged the use of Indians as missionaries and led in the formation of the Agricultural Society of India in 1820.

Carey didn't stop there: in 1792 he organized a missionary society, and at its inaugural meeting preached a sermon with the call, "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God!" Within a year, Carey, John Thomas (a former surgeon), and Carey's family (which now included three boys, and another child on the way) were on a ship headed for India.

Stranger in a strange land

Thomas and Carey had grossly underestimated what it would cost to live in India, and Carey's early years there were miserable. When Thomas deserted the enterprise, Carey was forced to move his family repeatedly as he sought employment that could sustain them. Illness racked the family, and loneliness and regret set it: "I am in a strange land," he wrote, "no Christian friend, a large family, and nothing to supply their wants." But he also retained hope: "Well, I have God, and his word is sure."

He learned Bengali with the help of a pundit, and in a few weeks began translating the Bible into Bengali and preaching to small gatherings.

When Carey himself contracted malaria, and then his 5-year-old Peter died of dysentery, it became too much for his wife, Dorothy, whose mental health deteriorated rapidly. She suffered delusions, accusing Carey of adultery and threatening him with a knife. She eventually had to be confined to a room and physically restrained.

"This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me," Carey wrote, though characteristically added, "But I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding; and God is here."

Gift of tongues

In October 1799, things finally turned. He was invited to locate in a Danish settlement in Serampore, near Calcutta. He was now under the protection of the Danes, who permitted him to preach legally (in the British-controlled areas of India, all of Carey's missionary work had been illegal).

Carey was joined by William Ward, a printer, and Joshua and Hanna Marshman, teachers. Mission finances increased considerably as Ward began securing government printing contracts, the Marshmans opened schools for children, and Carey began teaching at Fort William College in Calcutta.

In December 1800, after seven years of missionary labor, Carey baptized his first convert, Krishna Pal, and two months later, he published his first Bengali New Testament. With this and subsequent editions, Carey and his colleagues laid the foundation for the study of modern Bengali, which up to this time had been an "unsettled dialect."

Carey continued to expect great things; over the next 28 years, he and his pundits translated the entire Bible into India's major languages: Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit and parts of 209 other languages and dialects.

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He also sought social reform in India, including the abolition of infanticide, widow burning (sati), and assisted suicide. He and the Marshmans founded Serampore College in 1818, a divinity school for Indians, which today offers theological and liberal arts education for some 2,500 students.

By the time Carey died, he had spent 41 years in India without a furlough. His mission could count only some 700 converts in a nation of millions, but he had laid an impressive foundation of Bible translations, education, and social reform.

His greatest legacy was in the worldwide missionary movement of the nineteenth century that he inspired. Missionaries like Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, and David Livingstone, among thousands of others, were impressed not only by Carey's example, but by his words "Expect great things; attempt great things." The history of nineteenth-century Protestant missions is in many ways an extended commentary on the phrase.

What most people don’t realize about William Carey is what following the call of Christ cost him. Not having enough money to provide for his family was just the beginning of 40 years of hard ministry. Seeing your family stressed and strained, losing a child to sickness, and watching your wife slowly lose her mind are the highlights of what was one of the most challenging missionary stories we have.

William Carey said this after his wife had to be confined to a room, “"This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me," Carey wrote, though characteristically added, "But I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding; and God is here."

This morning we are looking at a man in similar circumstances but with the same confidence and hope. Paul is going to show how men like he and William Carey can endure the worst that can be thrown at them, and still have joy.

Philippians 1:18b–20 ESV

18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

Philippians 18-20

Paul Rejoices in the Knowledge of Deliverance

What is interesting about the beginning of the section is the transition from present tense to future tense. Paul rejoices now in the advance of the gospel. But he begins by stating I will rejoice. Paul is rejoicing and will rejoice. The gospel causes rejoicing in the here and now. Knowing that Deliverance is coming means that Paul will rejoice.

I Know

Paul will rejoice…why? Because he knows. The word has the jist of coming realize something. It is having a knowledge about something acquired through thinking, reflecting, perhaps prayer and meditation in our context.

Pauls future joy is a certainty because he has realized, experienced, learned…knows that this

Deliverance

The word deliverance is soterian. If you are familiar with theological terms, we get the concept of soteriology from the is word. Soteriology is the study of salvation or deliverance. The term means to recover or preserve from loss or danger, whether it is physical or spiritual. In this context “deliverance” does not mean release from imprisonment, but something more important: his ultimate vindication, whether in life or in death.

Paul is not expecting a Peter like moment where the jail cell doors open and he is free to walk out. Paul’s expectation is deliverance, but it is an ultimate deliverance that comes not in this life, but in the life to come.

Through Your Prayers

Let this sink in today, Paul knows that God has ordained to use the prayers of the Philippian church to bring about deliverance. How important to Paul then are the prayers of his brothers and sister in Christ?

Through the Help of the Spirit

That parallel with our text indicates that the provision of the Spirit referred to here is not something that the Spirit gives, but the provision is the Spirit.

That parallel with our text indicates that the provision of the Spirit referred to here is not something that the Spirit gives, but the provision is the Spirit.156

Paul is suggesting that the presence of the Spirit will be supplied to Paul through the prayers of the Philippians.

The way Paul combines prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit shows how closely human prayers and God’s provision are related.152 Our prayers have no power in themselves to help apart from the work of the Spirit. In fact, genuine prayer is possible only with the help of the Spirit (). While the help of the Spirit is not limited to the extent of our prayers, we cannot presume upon the Spirit’s presence and power when there is not a concerted effort to pray for God’s provision of the Spirit.

I Will Not Shame Christ

Thus Paul’s driving concern is not that he should be released from jail or that, if he must die, he should have a relatively painless departure, but that he should do nothing of which he would some day be ashamed.

His sense of shame was directly connected to God’s gracious appointment to defend the gospel (1:7, 16). He would be ashamed if he did or said anything that was not consistent with the proclamation of Jesus Christ.

Eager Expectation

Eager Hope

Christ will be Honored by Life or by Death

That is the deliverance that Paul expects. God’s salvation will be experienced in the now and in the body. What Paul is talking about in this context is neither a salvation from execution nor a salvation in heaven, but a salvation of the Spirit of Christ in the present, an empowering to be a bold witness for Christ his Lord. Paul is aware that his trial may be his last and greatest witness for Christ in his body. In fact, his witness may cause his execution. Nevertheless, Paul’s goal in life is the exaltation of Christ, whether by life or by death. Paul’s hope of salvation is that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body.

Paul knew that Christian commitment cannot happen apart from the body. In fact, Christian growth requires a focus on the body as the vehicle of expression of the true person, and as the instrument for receiving the communications of others. The person is intimately connected to the body, and Paul easily localized Christian commitment in the physical parts of his body

Romans

Romans 8:33–39 ESV

33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Applications:

Rejoice in the difference the gospel is making in your life. The truth is we are progressing and if we are not we may not be in Christ.

Fuel joy through knowing deliverance is coming.

Walk in joy seeking to live unashamedly.